I enjoy watching and reading band interviews. Often asked in such interviews is the question: "Who are your major influences?". Being a music lover and guitar player myself, I too have influences, both good and bad, just kidding, which I would like to share with you.
Anyway, my musical influences mainly come from music I was exposed to at an early age. When I was in elementary, I would listen to my older brother's cassette tapes. It was the late eighties back then and my brother was into New Wave and so was his peers. His tapes include: The Housemartins' "London 0 Hull 4" which features the song "Happy Hour"; Echo & The Bunnymen's "Songs to Learn and Sing" which features "Killing Moon", "Bring on the Dancing Horses", "The Cutter" and "Seven Seas"; "Third Wave, Third Stage Compilation" album which features Xmal Deutschland's "Matador", The Cure's "Fire in Cairo", The Mission's "Wasteland" and Siouxie and the Banshee's "Christine" and "Hongkong Garden"; The Clash's "Combat Rock" album which features "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go"; "The Great Rock and Roll Swindle" which features a rendition by Sid Vicious of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" whose intro my brother innocently said sounds like Marcos; a Modern English album which features the song "Hands Across the Sea"; "The Best of OMD" album which features "Enola Gay", "Secret" and "If You Leave"; a Psychedelic Furs album which features "The Ghost in You"; a compilation album which features Altered Images' "Happy Birthday" and 10,000 Maniacs' "These are Days"; "New Music (Musique Nouveau Par Excellence)" compilation album featuring Three O'Clock's "On Paper", Cactus World News' "The Bridge", Echo's "Lips Like Sugar", The Soup Dragons' "Soft as Your Face", and The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated" (remix); and other tapes.
My brother has a friend, our neighbor, who shares his musical taste. My brother and him would chip in to buy one cassette tape and when they get home, they would record that album to a blank tape using two casette players connected by an audio jack so that each of them will have a copy of that album. They would also record New Wave songs from the radio. They also attended one concert of the "10 of Another Kind" campus tour featuring Ethnic Faces, Under Blue Skies, Deans December, Violent Playground, and Introvoys in 1989. My brother also buys tapes at Plaza Fair/Makati Cinema Square which is right across our school, Don Bosco Technical Institute Makati. Back then, there were two kinds of tapes you can buy. The ordinary one which costs 45 pesos if I recall correctly and the BASF tape which is more expensive but sounds better. My brother also listened to WXB102. I was also exposed to New Wave music from riding our jeepney "service" to and fro school. The owner's son, who is my brother's batch mate, always made sure that the radio was tuned either to BM 105 or NU107. "I Fought the Law" by the Clash and "Love Vigilantes" by New Order are familiar songs I would hear back then. Like most young boys who can't hardly wait to become a teenager (I suddenly remembered that Jollibee commercial with Carmina Villaroel where she felt left out by her older brother), I wanted to be like my brother and his friends.
Two of my classmates during first year high school also somehow influenced my preference in music. One was a transferee to our school that year. I remember seeing this first guy come to first day of school wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, brown creepers for shoes, with matching kiddie bag as he had no uniform yet. He looked much older than me and my friends. While waiting in line to enter our classroom, me and my friends made fun of him behind his back. We joked that he was there just to drop-off some kid. I even approached him and said something like, "Pre, sinong hinahatid mo?" as my friends laughed. Months later, I teased him again and got myself a beating. I wasn't that tough after all. I learned my lesson. Eventually, this first guy and I became friends. I learned that he likes hardcore, thrash and heavy metal and that he is quite the entrepreneur. He sells blank cassette tapes. Not new ones but old cassette tapes the contents of which were erased. You could also buy from him bootleg copies of albums recorded on his "blank tapes". I bought from him a bootleg copy of Filipino punk label Twisted Red Cross's "Katrina's Live - Tamana Away!!!" album featuring Wuds, Private Stock, Betrayed and George Imbecile and the Idiots. This first guy also lent me an issue of Herald X magazine where I saw a diagram showing where punk rock came from and the different genres that branched from it. From Blues to Rock and Roll to Rockabilly, Ska to Reggae, Punk to New Wave, Punk to Hardcore, that was drawn there.
The second guy was my schoolmate since Prep. He likes classic rock and heavy metal due to the influence of his father who also likes rock music. Once, this classmate of mine came to school wearing tight spandex pants. He said that he likes the Beatles when they already had long hair and were already hippies. He lent me his dad's "Jesus Christ Superstar" double cassette which album I thought was blasphemous. His favorite artist in Woodstock was Joe Cocker who sang a rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends". Yup, the song used in the Fred Savage TV Show, "The Wonder Years". His motto was "Live Fast, Die Young". That's what he wrote on the back of one of my photos. Him and the first guy also became good friends because they love the same music. These two friends had indeed influenced me and my likes in music.
TV shows and films also contributed to my fondness of music. An episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" entitled "The Mystery of the Blues" and the 1986 Ralph Macchio film "Crossroads" bolstered my eagerness to play guitar. In "Mystery Of the Blues", I saw Sydney Bechet, a contemporary of Louis Armstrong, teach the young Indiana Jones how to properly play soprano sax. He told Indy to practice with the simple melody to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and to take time and learn the fundamentals before he can play jazz. Soon, Indy was playing with Sydney's band and improvising on said children's tune. In another scene, Sydney Bechet and his band were playing the blues, Indy wanted to play but Sydney didn't allow him to play, saying that this time it's different. It was the blues they're playing. Adding to my curiosity about the blues. After watching this episode, I found myself playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" too on my guitar. Alas, I could not improvise.
In "Crossroads", Ralph Macchio's character, Eugene, a classical guitar player but who is fascinated by the blues, helps an old harmonica player named Willie Brown bust out of the hospital and get to Mississippi to settle some "unfinished business" in exchange for Willie teaching Eugene Robert Johnson's missing tune. But there wasn't a missing tune, Willie just tricked Eugene. And that unfinished business? Willie Brown and Robert Johnson apparently sold their souls to the devil in exchange for musical talent. Kinda like the story of Faust. In order to save his new friend's soul, Eugene has to defeat the devil's musician (played by Steve Vai) in a guitar duel. Which Eugene did, ironically, by playing classical.
Through Mystery of the Blues and Crossroads, I became aware that there's more to playing than playing notes mechanically. You gotta have soul (whatever that means) and emotion in jazz and blues. I also became acquainted with New Orleans jazz (though the setting of Mystery of the Blues was in Chicago) and the Mississippi Delta blues.
Stoner and rock and roll-themed movies such as Dazed and Confused, Rude Awakening, The Stoned Age, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, Detroit Rock City, Wayne's World 1 and 2, The Doors movie, Almost Famous, School of Rock, and more recently, The Rocker, are also influences. So are some movie songs and scores.
There was also a time in my life when I listened to Pinoy Rock. I was influenced by friends who were much older than me who lived in the subdivision where I grew up. One may call them "jeprox". I think that's an apt term. Anyway, my favorite is the Pinoy Rock anthem "Ang Himig Natin" by Juan Dela Cruz. I have a funny story. Once I was listening to my Pinoy Rock compilation tape on the component in our living room and our neighbor happened to stop by. The guitar solo part was playing loudly. Looking annoyed, she said to me "Pang-Intsik ba 'yang pinapatugtog mo?". She actually thought I was listening to a Chinese song. I just laughed.
That guitar solo part by Wally Gonzales (I assume) is something I always wanted to learn. I couldn't play it up to now. The band Backdraft revived the song "Ang Himig Natin". Their version was regularly played in LA 105 back in the day.
I am a "brat" born in 1977 - a Martial Law baby. A member of Generation X. I grew up during the '90s. I was thirteen in 1990. It was really hard for me not to see the music video to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", to hear the songs of Pearl Jam, Alanis Morissette, Stone Temple Pilots, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soul Asylum, Jet Black (Rain), Smoking Popes, Smashing Pumpkins, Live and Sound Garden. So, Alternative and Grunge also have influenced me. In the same vein, Filipino bands during the '90s like The Dawn (though they started in the late eighties), After Image, Introvoys, The Youth, Eraserheads, River Maya, Color It Red, Barbie's Cradle, Alamid, Yano, Teeth, Parokya ni Edgar and other great bands have influenced my musical taste. I also listened to the Metallica Black album and Use Your Illusion by GNR which were popular back then. As well as Joe Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien" and a Best of Jimi Hendrix album. I also saw the documentary film, Woodstock (1970). My classmate during first year college who is a fan of Jim Morrison and The Doors is also an influence.
They say "life is a constant learning experience". I recently learned new things from a friend and bandmate of mine. He is a dedicated fan of Morrissey and The Smiths. I learned from him songs other than "The More You Ignore, The Closer I Get", "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want", and "Panic". I knew of Johnny Marr, Echobelly, and a lot of bands I haven't heard before, as well as different music genres from him. He let me borrow a copy of the book "Manic, Pop, Thrill" written by Rachel Felder which gives "an account of the alternative music industry - its roots, its vast range of bands, and its impact on fashion and culture". He also lent me the book "All Men Have Secrets" which consists of "stories about Smiths songs and the people to whom they meant so much".
Lastly, songs sung during mass in my school from Prep to Second Year High School are an early influence. These are the songs found in our Liturgy Guide and Youth at Prayer handbook. I would sing these songs a cappella. These are the first songs I tried to play when I was learning guitar. These are songs that I cherish.
Photos: From all over the internet
Videos:
reimendoza01
Awesome 80's
morrisonAV
Youtube Vevo
Original Ramones Videos
RHINO
juan lovegood (Crossroads Duel)
